Kids' Game
by acosta perez jose ramiro
Summary: Amity Park faces a mysterious menace, yet someone has full confidence on the resident hero to face it. WARNING: RATING BECAUSE OF SOME SCENES AND THEME.
1. An Innocent Praying

Hello, and welcome to my new Danny Phantom's fic! (And welcome all you gorgeous girls who are crazy about me!) Tucker, I hate to remind you this, but no girl is crazy ABOUT you… maybe one or two have been driven crazy BY you, but that's not the same thing. (Thanks for the support, dude… and that was sarcasm!) Really? Didn't notice. (What? But it was plain obvious!) I was sarcastic, Tucker. (Oh.)

(Ehem. Okay, let me do my job.) The paragraph is yours. (DISCLAIMER: Ramiro doesn't own Danny Phantom's characters, including myself, of course. He'll have some OC in this story; he owns them, but, if you like any of them, Ramiro will allow you to use them as long as you tell him first.)

Thanks, Tuck. One last thing; this story will contain some stuff that isn't exactly adequate for young readers, therefore the rating. (We'll have no vulgarity or stuff like that, but it's a little on the T rating side, so you guys are warned.)

Thanks again, Tucker, and now, on with the show!

**Kids' Game.**

**A Danny Phantom story by Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro**

**- An Innocent Praying.**

"Thanks God for me and my family having enough food, clothing, and a place to live. Please, bless Mommy, and Daddy, and my teachers and my friends. Oh, and Phantom, thanks a lot for protecting our city…"

"Freddy, cut it!" The eight year old dark haired and slightly tanned kid dressed on white pajamas, kneeled in front of his bed in a praying position, turned to see his mother, a slightly overweighed woman on his early thirties with a similar skin and hair color, looking at him from his bedroom's door.

"I just was praying, mom."

"I know, Freddy, but you can't pray to Phantom." The woman sighed and placed next to her kid, "He is very powerful, but is a ghost, not God, and you can't pray to anyone but Him."

"But God created him, right? And he takes cares of everyone in Amity Park; at least, he must be an angel." Freddy told his mother. The woman shook her head and motioned the kid on his bed.

"Even if that's right, no praying to him, okay?" The woman got a stern look, so Freddy sighed and nodded. His mom immediately got a kinder look, and kissed his cheek.

"Good night, sweetie."

"Good night, Mom." Freddy said with a smile, and, the moment his mother turned off the lights and exited the room, covered his head with the blanket and whispered, "If I'm not kneeled, then it's not praying, right? Okay… Thanks, Phantom."

As many other kids at Amity Park, Freddy Ortega was a big fan of Danny Phantom; the idea of having a real life superhero was just too cool for most youngsters. Freddy had several things with Danny's logo on it, and even some toys the local stores made with his image (taking full advantage of Phantom not being able to copyright it), and he also kept track of about everything related to his favorite hero, plus had a scrapbook filled up with tons of information about him, from photographs and newspaper articles to science magazines' articles (many of them written by local experts, Jack and Madeleine Fenton), even if the kid couldn't understand a lot of the information. If it had Phantom's image or name, Freddy had to do his best to add it to the scrapbook.

On the meantime, several blocks away from Freddy's home, a girl around his age was also getting ready to sleep. However, when she was about to put on her pajamas, she noticed a bright light coming from outside her window. Curiosity was stronger than fear, and the girl opened the window to get a better look; the moment she did it, one strong hand grabbed her while another one covered the girl's mouth, taking her out of the house. A few seconds later, the window was closed by another hand, and the light disappeared as well as the girl.

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"Another child disappeared last night, abducted from her bedroom leaving no traces at all." The anchorman said the morning news' main note, "Young Anna Walters, age 8, according to her parents, entered her room around 9 o' clock last night, but, a few minutes later, when her mother went to check her, she found the girl was gone."

At the Fentons' house, everybody was at the kitchen's table, having breakfast and watching the news. Jack Fenton, as usual, came to a perfect explanation about the kid's disappearance, entirely doubtless and logical.

"She was abducted by a ghost!"

(**AN: Well, at least, for him, it was a perfect explanation.)**

Jazz rolled her eyes for the millionth time, as she usually did when her dad's brain made a connection of anything with ghosts, something that happened about twenty times a day (at least those Jazz could hear to count them), but for once she didn't dismiss that idea, since her mother and brother actually considered it, as Jazz realized thanks to the look, both concerned and thoughtful, they immediately got while looking at the picture of the lost girl.

Anna was the most recent victim of a series of kidnappings that started about a week ago, with one kid disappearing mysteriously every night, some of them even vanishing from their bedrooms. Living in the world's most haunted city, the theory of a ghostly kidnapper wasn't as crazy as it sounded.

"Maybe we should start doing night patrolling, Jack," Maddie told her husband while handling him a piece of toast (fudge covered, of course) without losing sight of the screen, "If there's really a ghost behind this, we need to be ready… and maybe suggest the Mayor to set a few ghost alarms at the Elementary School, as we did in Danny and Jazz's one."

"That's a wonderful idea, Maddie!" Jack exclaimed, "Let's do it right after breakfast… actually, let's get the Fenton RV and go to his office to suggest that directly!"

"Mom!" Jazz quickly objected; her parents convinced the school board to allow the installation of some ghost alarms since the place was a common place of spectral activity, detecting any ghost approaching at less than 100 yards from the school grounds. Luckily, Danny could avoid the alarms in his human form, but it was kind of hard for him to get in and out the school during emergencies.

"Yes, I think it's a good idea too." Danny commented, getting huge smiles from his parents and a shocked look from Jazz.

"Uh… we'll better go now, Danny; I have to be extra-early today at school to talk with one of the boys I'm tutoring." Jazz told her brother while yanking him from his arm. The youngsters and their parents said their _"See you later"_ and _"Have a nice day"_, and, once Jazz and Danny were at the garage, she grabbed him by the shoulders to get his full attention.

"Danny, are you nuts? How can you support that idea?" Jazz asked in amazement and a little anger, "I mean, this means more alarms around the city, and more ways Mom and Dad can track you down! What are you doing next; suggesting them to set an anti-ghost shield at your bedroom?"

"Jazz, cool down, please." Danny placed his hands on Jazz's shoulders to calm her down, and then looked around to be sure nobody could hear them, "I know this is kind of dangerous for me, but you saw the news, and this time I have to agree with Dad. Maybe there's a ghost kidnapper; I actually got the same idea a couple of days ago…" Danny paused, realizing how much he and his father could think alike at times, and, shook his head, sighing and looking down. "I had spent the last two nights patrolling to try finding any clue, but the most I had faced lately are The Box Ghost, who, obviously, isn't the main suspect, and a couple of ghost ravens, annoying and with pretty sharp beaks, yet too small to actually get a kid without causing a major scandal."

"I get your point, Danny, but still there must be another way to help the children." Jazz said in a more calmed tone yet getting a more concerned look, "And what if the kidnapper isn't a ghost? And, even if it is, setting alarms at the school might create a useless paranoia… and ghost hunters will become more aggressive."

"Tell me about it; Valerie found me last night, and obviously she also thinks a ghost is responsible, since all the time she kept asking if I had anything to do with the kidnappings… between shots, of course." Danny sighed; knowing Valerie, she would blame Phantom even for bad weather, so a serious matter could only make her even more eager to blast him in peaces. The idea of several ghost hunters, namely the Guys in White and some others, with a similar attitude and weaponry was just nightmarish.

"Well, then I think there's only one thing to do," Jazz rubbed her chin in thought while she and Danny got into her car, "After classes, we'll meet Sam and Tucker, so the four of us can check Tucker's files about your enemies, and then make a suspects' list based on their psychological profile and modus operandi… and, and I can't believe I'm saying this, later you can go to The Ghost Zone and make a direct investigation."

Danny thought about his sister's idea for a moment, and nodded in reply; visiting his enemies wasn't exactly safe, or sane, to say the least, but it was the best plan right now. Maybe he could even ask his ghostly allies, namely Dora, Wulf and Frostbite, for some information (of course, he would need Tucker's help to translate Wulf's Esperanto to English) in case any of them had seen anything; Clockwork was also a good option, but Danny knew he couldn't reveal too much information because of his duties as Time Keeper, so decided to keep him as a last resource.

At that moment, a blue icy mist appeared from Danny's mouth. Jazz looked at his expression, and realized what was happening.

"Try to make this a fast fight; I'm sick of covering you with Lancer," Jazz said in a severe tone, but switched immediately to a kinder and slightly concerned one, "And please, be careful, okay?" Danny and Jazz shared a little smile, and then he got a stern expression.

"Going Ghost!"

Once the bright light circles changed Danny into his Phantom persona, the boy grabbed a Fenton Thermos from his backpack, strapped it at his back, and then turned invisible and phased out of the car, flying at a good height to get a better view of the area. He finally spotted the reason his ghost sense got active; one moving at a pretty high speed down the street.

"Hey, Johnny, how about we play chicken with some of these stupid morning drivers?" The ghost girl asked her boyfriend, holding to him by his dirty old jacket, both of them riding a motorcycle with the number 13 at the sides.

"Sure, Kitty; I wonder how many of them will crash trying to avoid us!"

"And I wonder about the last time you washed that jacket!" Johnny and Kitty looked up and behind them, finding Danny just a few feet over them, "Newsflash, Johnny! There's one thing called 'soap'; use it once in a while."

"And can't you stay out of our way once in a while?" Kitty snapped at the halfa while Johnny growled and looked down next to his bike.

"Shadow, get him!"

Johnny's shadow immediately changed into its monstrous self, and charged against Danny, trying to slash him with its claws. Danny avoided the attack, and blasted the dark creature that, as usual, recovered in a moment and started chasing Danny, gaining more and more height and speed.

Danny gave a fast look over him; the day was partially clouded, so he couldn't count on the sun to bright enough to get rid of Shadow, so Danny decided to improvise his own light. Danny placed himself over the creature, and formed a large ice shield (thanks to his newly developed freezing powers) in front of him; Shadow got an evil grin, knowing that the shield wasn't enough protection against its claws.

"Lights On!" Danny shot a blast through the ice that acted as a magnifying glass and created a powerful blinding light; Shadow received the full impact, and, shrieking, disappeared in pain. Danny knew it would be back eventually, but that would take at least a few days, and Johnny would be almost totally powerless without Shadow; Danny got rid of the shield and dived at high speed, hoping to catch the ghostly couple before they could cause an accident.

"Johnny, he is right behind us!" Kitty told her boyfriend, half angry-half scared; Johnny was worried as well, knowing that in a direct battle Danny could defeat them both without problems, and accelerated. Danny sprinted, and got ready to blast them, when an idea popped in his mind; instead of attacking, Danny grabbed Kitty by her shoulders, and flew away from Johnny, who got a surprised and furious expression at his enemy touching his girlfriend.

"Hey, let me go, you fool!" Kitty tried to escape, but Danny was stronger; after a few seconds of struggling, Danny talked to her face to face.

"Listen, Kitty, if you cooperate, I promise I won't hurt you or Johnny, and just get you two in the thermos without a fight." Danny said in his best severe tone, making her to stop struggling and listen carefully, "I need certain information; do you know anything about a ghost who had been kidnapping children recently?"

"What do you mean? I know nothing about that!" Kitty snapped at Danny, "Do you think I care about a bunch of **´?)&** brats anyway? As long as I can be with Johnny, the rest of the world can pretty much go to **&!º¿¡/´ç**, you idiot!"

Danny wide opened his eyes, surprised at Kitty's language; compared to that, the lousiest words he heard at times in the dressing rooms after P.E. class were Shakespearian works! Danny frowned at the ghost after a few seconds, upset about her lack of interest or sympathy for the kids; of course, he realized she cared about nothing but her and Johnny, so she wasn't a very reliable source of information, but that also eliminated them from the suspects' list.

"Hey, you **$"(&)\º¿,** get your lousy hands away from my girl!"

"You two met at the same English class, right?" Danny said to both ghosts when hearing Johnny and his motorcycle, flying against him to save Kitty. Danny decided he had enough of them, so threw Kitty against Johnny, who caught her at mid-air, and then moved aside to avoid getting hit by the vehicle. As the couple dashed away from him, Danny grabbed his thermo, and aimed at them to capture the ghosts before they were too far.

**BLAST!**

"OUCH!" Danny fell several feet down thanks to a well placed ecto-blast at his back, courtesy of Amity's most dangerous ghost hunter.

"I got you, kidnapper!" Valerie growled while shooting a series of blasts at both Danny and the couple. Danny, by mere instinct, formed a shield around him for protection, saving himself from another blast, while Johnny maneuvered his vehicle to avoid Valerie's attacks, but one side of his bike got slightly damaged because of a narrowly-avoided one.

"Hey, nobody messes with my motorcycle!" Johnny snapped at Valerie, and forgetting any caution, dashed against her; Kitty grinned evilly, enjoying the idea of playing chicken with the huntress and her sled.

Valerie, of course, accepted the challenge. The huntress and the ghosts headed against each other, and, oddly enough, Danny noticed Val wasn't shooting at them. He was about to try helping her, when Valerie executed her plan, the sled just a few feet away from the bike; the huntress jumped from her sled, making it to pass right under the motorcycle, and then gave both ghosts a powerful flying kick, taking them down from their vehicle, and, since none of them was particularly strong, and the kick surprised them (so they couldn't turn intangible on time) they got stunned; Danny, to say the least, was incredibly impressed by the girl's skill. Valerie's sled, as it was programmed, caught her on mid air, and the huntress turned to shoot at the motorcycle.

**BOOOOOOMMM!**

"**MY MOTORCYCLE! YOU ?'¿¡&$Ç!" **

"Remember what I said about soap, Johnny?" Danny smirked at the couple, aiming at them with his thermos, "Forget about the jacket, and use it in your mouth."

"AAAAARGGGGH…" Both Johnny and Kitty got sucked inside the thermos, and then Danny turned at Valerie, who was pretty stunned at the vocabulary Johnny used with her.

"I don't know what's worse… what he said to me, or the fact I understood it." Valerie shook her head, and then aimed at Danny, "Okay, ghost, enough playing! You're going to tell me where those kids are, or I'm giving you the worst beating of your after-life!"

"Believe it or not, Val, I'm not the cause of everything wrong in the world." Danny sighed yet prepared to dash away the moment she decided to let her weapons do the talking.

"Don't call me Val!" The huntress roared, and started shooting at him. Danny dived to avoid the attack, and dashed away with her in hot pursuit.

"Well, how I'm supposed to call you then?" Danny snapped back while accelerating, "That's your name, and as much as you like hunting me, I'm not calling you like that ghost just did a moment ago!"

"Why, thank you for being so considerate!" Valerie growled, trying to get a good shot, "Then, call me by my full name, and, now that we are talking, why don't you reveal what you did with the children?"

"That cowl doesn't allow you to hear me, or you just were born stubborn?" Danny replied after avoiding a particularly close blast, "I told you, I'm not a kidnapper! Think about it; the only thing you can accuse me is of property damage, and, as I always tell you, THAT'S BY ACCIDENT!"

"You tried to kidnap the Mayor once!"

"He was overshadowed!"

"How convenient!"

Danny couldn't help but sigh in relief when looking down and finding out he was right over Casper High. Obviously, now the problem was getting inside the school without activating the alarms, but the solution came by itself.

"Hey, Valerie, time out!" Danny made the classic signal with his hands that, luckily, really worked at making her to stop shooting, and then he pointed at the school's clock tower, "Speaking about time, you are running out of it."

Valerie noticed that she was just one minute from getting late to classes, and groaned, upset at Phantom realizing she had a limited time to hunt him.

"Saved by the stupid proverbial bell," Valerie talked to herself, and then growled at Danny, "Don't think this is over, ghost! If I find out that you or any of your ghostly colleagues is behind this, I'll become seriously furious with all of you!"

Valerie dashed away from Danny, heading to some bushes behind the school (her favorite switching outfit's spot), while Danny waited for a few seconds and then pretended to fly away from the school. Once he was as a certain distance, he descended, and, hiding behind a car, changed back to normal; Danny then ran at fast as possible to try being on time.

"If she was just furious now, I really don't want to see her SERIOUSLY furious." Danny said to himself while running. Now he was more determined to find out about the kidnapper and save the children; he was worried enough about their security and welfare, and now he also had to add worrying about his own.

No matter how dangerous, he would go to The Ghost Zone after school.


	2. The Usual Suspects

**- The Usual Suspects.**

"Attention, everyone, please, pay attention… Johnson, stop playing with that ball in here!" Casper Elementary's Principal directed to the children at the school's hall. The children were particularly eager to leave since the rest of the classes were cancelled to have this meeting, so once it was done they could go home, or the arcade, the park, or wherever they wanted… or so they thought.

"Okay, now that I have your attention," the man cleared his throat once the children were calmed enough, "the reason of this meeting is to discuss certain security's issues. I'm sure that, by now, most of you are aware of the mysterious disappearances in our city that started last week. It hadn't been confirmed yet, but it's possible that ghosts are involved."

The teacher's last sentence made about every kid and teacher at the hall to give him full attention. Freddy, who was sitting just a few lines away, took out a little tape recorder and turned it on; if the principal was about to talk about ghosts, he would probably mention Phantom, and to the kid, that was worthy enough to get recorded.

"Anyway, this is just a possibility, but, just to be sure, in a couple of days, and once we discuss it with your parents, the local ghost hunters, The Fentons, will start the installation of several alarms at certain spots in and around the school to detect ghostly activity; they suggested it to our Mayor this morning, and he approved, so, once everything is settled and the experts start doing their job, I'm asking you to not bother them or mess with their equipment. This is for your own security."

Freddy got a thoughtful expression, and sighed after a few moments. Even if they were trying to capture Phantom, the kid had seen images of The Fentons fighting evil ghosts (actually, he had a lot of them), and knew they were good people, and that the alarms were for his and his classmates' security; however, those alarms meant that Phantom would never approach the school, as Freddy hoped he might do someday (he even looked up in the sky several times a day to try spotting him), because his hero would be in trouble if the hunters detected him.

"Besides this caution, we are asking you to follow several rules. None of you must be at the street alone, and, at home, try to stay with your parents or legal guardians at all time. We'll have another meeting tomorrow with them to share information and more rules; I know this is very annoying, but it's for your safety."

"Yeah, right," Billy, one of Freddy's friends who was just next to him, groaned in annoyance while the principal continued talking, "If a ghost is robbing kids, there's nothing you can do to protect yourself; they should just close the school and give us vacations so we can get out of town until the bad guy or ghost gets caught."

"That would be cool," Freddy commented to his friend, "but it wouldn't last. Phantom is going to catch that ghost and rescue everyone in no time, and we'll forget about the rules then."

"I know he is your hero, Freddy, but please, don't be a party-popper and let me dream, okay?" Billy sighed while Freddy just shrugged and turned back to listen the rest of the speech.

"_I don't know why everyone is so worried," _Freddy thought, _"if we have Phantom to protect us, and nobody can beat him."_

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"I'll finally beat you, kid!" Technus snapped at Danny while using his latest creation, an electric blaster, to shoot at the halfa. Danny blocked the attack with his shield, and then turned invisible.

"You fool! You're in my lair, and in here I know wherever you are, invisible and all!" Technus grinned while pointing exactly as the spot where Danny was located. Danny avoided the shot by mere inches, and then turned back to visible while dashing against Technus.

The technological spirit tried to blast Danny again, but the boy was faster and shot at the weapon, destroying it. Then, without lowering his speed, Danny charged at Technus, hitting him with both fists, stunning the ghost and sending him several feet away. Technus shook his head to recover and moved his hands to summon another of his gadgets, but Danny stopped him with a good blast at his chest. Danny then placed in front of the almost defeated Technus, and aimed at some of his computers with his right hand, glowing with ectoplasmic energy.

"I just want to ask you something, Technus, and then I'll leave; if you don't cooperate, I'll turn every single machine in your lair into techno-junk, understood?" Danny talked in a stern tone. Technus decided to give up for once, and nodded in reply; Danny then asked him about the kids, and if he knew of any ghost that probably could have kidnapped them.

"Nope, sorry; I have no idea about what happened to those children, boy." Technus confessed, "You know that I only work with technology, not with kids, and I have no idea about who might have done it since I had spent the last three weeks working on that device at your left."

"What it does?"

"Oh, it's my greatest invention!" Technus said proudly while looking at the huge machine, that at this point looked like a gigantic half-built computer, "Once it's finished, I'll be able to control any single machine on Earth without leaving my lair; of course it's quite complicated and advanced, so making it demands my full attention."

"I see… and, if it gets damaged, will you be able to rebuild it?"

"I don't think so; the components are extremely rare and delicate. If just one of them gets broken, it might take me years to make a decent replacement." Technus commented casually and then gulped in realization, "I just did it again, right?"

"Yes, you did," Danny smirked at the ghost, and then shot a freezing ray at the device. Once it was deep frozen, Danny shot a powerful blast, breaking it in thousands of pieces. Technus got a shocked expression while Danny dusted off his hands, and directed to the lair's exit.

"Thanks for the information, Technus. One suggestion; to get rid of the pieces, try a garage sale… of course, you'll need to build a garage before that."

"_He just doesn't learn, uh?" _Danny heard Sam's voice, thanks to the Fenton Earphones he was using so she, Tucker and Jazz could monitor him from Fenton Works.

"Fortunately; without his loose tongue, he might be as dangerous as Vlad." Danny commented while closing the lair's door, one among thousands in the Ghost Zone.

"That problem might come from an obsessive craving for both attention and people recognizing his merits by showing off his intellect at any possible chance," Jazz, sitting next to Sam inside the Specter Speeder, with Tucker at the driver's seat tracking Danny, started making her own analysis of Technus' psyche, "He certainly is in serious need of some therapy to get rid of his emotional charge and control his impulses so eventually…"

"Which part of '_without his loose tongue, he might be as dangerous as Vlad'_ you didn't get?" Tucker said to Jazz as he and Sam gave her a blank look (and Danny pretty much got a similar expression), making her to sigh and shut up. As much as she wanted to help, sometimes Jazz' eagerness to learn about ghostly psychology and the specters' motivations blinded her to some details that were vital to Danny's survival.

"_Well, at least I got something positive from this visit; the rest of the afternoon had been an almost total failure."_ The trio heard Danny's tired and slightly frustrated voice, and Sam, always trying to keep his spirits (no pun intended) up, sighed and then talked to him in a calmed tone.

"I know it sounds weird coming from a Goth, but see the bright side, Danny. At least you're narrowing the suspects' list, and that's much better than just flying through The Ghost Zone opening random doors."

"Not that visiting extremely vengeful and hideous ghosts is a much better idea, but it's better than nothing." Tucker commented, making Jazz and Sam to slap their own foreheads and Danny to roll his eyes.

Danny had been visiting ghosts for almost two hours now, and was pretty tired, not to mention more than slightly in pain because of some of his battles; part of him was relieved for not finding the children caught in a lair at the mercy of a dangerous specter, but another was getting anxious, angry, and frustrated with every failed search and interrogation; plus, even if these ghosts were dangerous, Danny knew that acting like Dash and bully them for answers didn't make him much better. To make things worse, the list was larger than Danny expected, since he and his team had to consider not just the modus operandi of his enemies, but those who were vengeful and clever enough to become kidnappers just to get even on him.

Danny started with Klemper, because, as Jazz deduced (thanks to the information Danny, Sam and Tucker had gathered about his enemies), since the gelid ghost's main motivation was searching for company and friendship, he probably could have kidnapped the children to get it; the ghost resulted innocent, and totally clueless about the criminal's identity. Youngblood was next, with the possibility of him doing it to get playing partners and the antecedent of him hating adults, but he had been practicing both his cowboy and pirate's tricks for the last month without leaving his lair. Walker was a strong suspect, considering his hate for Danny and that this stunt would make him and about any other ghost pretty unpopular in Amity Park; Danny didn't fought him directly, but caught and interrogated one of his guards, confirming the warden ghost wasn't responsible, and reminding Danny that Walker's prison was pretty useless to hold humans, who could just phase through walls just like ghosts do it in the human world; luckily, the guard also told Danny that The Ghost Writer was still Walker's prisoner, eliminating another suspect. Finally, Skulker, with both his hunting obsession and, according to Sam's thought, not beyond using someone as a bait to lure Danny into a trap, gave Danny a major fight, but eventually Danny defeated him, and then searched at his lair/island, confirming he wasn't the kidnapper.

On the bright hand, Danny could talk with both Dora, the dragon-morphing damsel, and Frostbite, the yeti ghost, and, even if they had no idea about the kids' whereabouts, promised Danny to stay alert and tell him if discovering something, basically focusing on watching the ghosts Danny hadn't met and obviously had no idea about their powers or motivations. Surprisingly, Poindexter, Danny's nerdy enemy, was pretty cooperative and even accepted to be alert and be his informant as well; when Danny asked him why he was agreeing to help, the ghost reminded him about how much he hated bullies, and a kidnapper is basically an extremely mean and dangerous one, so giving a lesson to one of them was pretty appealing to Poindexter.

"I'll try one or two more lairs, and then return home." Danny informed his sister and friends, who agreed with his idea, as Tucker guided him to the closest known lair.

Danny found the large black door with a blue flame painted on it after a few minutes, and decided to knock, expecting, if not a friendly welcome, at least having the chance for a civil talk and maybe avoiding a fight. He moved a couple of feet away from the door the moment his ghost sense detected the lair's owner.

"Looking for someone, Dipstick?"

Danny turned, realizing too late that Ember Mc Laine wasn't inside her lair, but behind him.

**THHHHUUUUUUUNNNNNNNGGGGGG!**

The sonic attack hit Danny's directly, sending him through the door and inside the lair. As Danny expected, the place was filled up with several instruments and an 80's style decoration. The boy shook his head, and activated his ghostly shield to protect from another sonic hit from the punk ghost's guitar.

"What are you doing here, Dipstick? You should know by now that I don't like you at my concerts, and especially at my house!" Ember smirked while setting her guitar on a special note; the moment she attacked again, the sonic waves formed a large fist that shattered Danny's shield that luckily resisted the impact.

"And you should know by now that I don't like you calling me Dipstick!" Danny groaned as he deactivated the shield and flew away to avoid another musical punch, "Now, I'm giving you something so you can remember my name!"

Danny's fists glowed with a bluish energy, and then shot a freezing blast at Ember, covering her in ice from the neck down. Ember's skin became even paler, and wide opened her eyes in anger and pain.

"I'll release you the moment you decide to stop fighting so we can talk, Mc-Lame." Danny said, hovering in front of Ember. The ghost glared at him, her eyes glowing fiercely.

"Your tricks might be cool, Dipstick, but mine are flaming!"

Ember's pony tail got an erect position, and turned into a gigantic flame; Danny jumped back to avoid getting burned as the fire covered Ember, melting her icy prison. Danny knew the girl wasn't that strong without people cheering her name, so this enforced the theory of her using the kids as, ironically, a captive audience, to feed her power. As Ember prepared her guitar for another attack, Danny's fists and eyes glowed, preparing a more powerful attack.

"STOP!"

Danny and Ember turned at the lair's door, spotting a huge werewolf in green sweatshirt (the sleeves partially ripped), and pants.

"Wulf!" Danny smiled at the arrival of his pal, who dashed next to him to give the boy a mighty embrace. Ember, sighing, moved a few steps back, abandoning her battle stance.

"Friend. Good. See. You." The ghostly lycanthrope smiled at Danny when releasing him. Danny then noticed he was talking English (at least, enough to be understood) instead of Esperanto.

"Same here, Wulf; and is a good thing now I can understand you better."

"He still has problems with verbs. We are working on that; I still can't believe that befriending a nerd when I was alive and learning Esperanto from him would be useful someday." Ember commented while rolling her eyes. Danny became pretty surprised at both her attitude and the fact she stopped fighting the moment Wulf arrived.

"You two are friends?"

"Ember. Nice. With. Me." Wulf nodded while the former rock star sighed and moved next to the werewolf, knowing Danny wouldn't keep fighting with him there.

"Yeah, we met at the last Christmas party; he arrived shortly after you left," Ember explained to Danny; that party was one of the reasons the boy got to like Christmas for the first time ever, since all ghosts quit fighting that day, and his enemies weren't just friendly, but supportive with him, "I have a deal with him, Dipstick; Furry here hears my music and, since he really enjoys it, his emotions are good enough to fuel my power… not like a full audience, but since we met I had been gaining a lot of strength without risking facing you at the human world. In exchange, I give him English lessons and a place to hide from Walker, and, well…" Ember hesitated a little, not knowing if giving Danny all that information was a good idea, but continued when Wulf nodded at her, "I use my music to help him with his problem."

Ember moved a few steps back and motioned Danny to do the same. The female ghost then made a new adjustment to the guitar, and started singing a tune Danny found slightly familiar.

"_Son of Man, look to the sky; Lift your spirit, set it free; Some day you'll walk tall with pride; Son of Man, a man in time you'll be…"_

As Ember continued, a white light emerged from her guitar, and covered Wulf. Then, to Danny's surprise, his friend slowly morphed into a strongly built teenage human ghost, with pale blue skin and blond hair, about a foot and a half shorter than his animalistic form. Ember stopped singing after a minute or so, and Danny approached his friend.

"You… used to be human?"

"Well, duh! That's why it's called a _'werewolf'_ and not _'freakish large semi-talking_ _mutt'_, don't you think?" Ember said to Danny, who frowned slightly at her.

"Me. Stuck. In. Animal. Form. When. Dying." Wulf, obviously used to the girl's sarcasm and therefore ignoring her comment, explained Danny, "Ember. Helps. Me. Back. Human. Short. Time. I. Very. Grateful." The teen looked fondly at Ember, who couldn't avoid a slight pale blush appearing at her cheeks; even if Danny was a little clueless about his own love life, he wasn't with the others', so understood immediately that the ghosts were more than just friends by convenience. This also eliminated Ember as a suspect; Wulf would never let her hurt or kidnap children.

"Just a doubt left; if you guys don't leave the lair, how did you attack me from the outside?" Danny asked Ember, who shrugged at him.

"I like my lair, and Furry is a cool roommate, but even I get bored to just be here after some days, so we go for a walk/flight every two weeks or so; besides, I get enough energy from his emotions, but Furry here needs ghostly food once in a while; we get it with The Lunch Lady… her cooking isn't too tasty for most humans or ghosts, but is perfect for him." Ember explained, "Anyway, what are you doing here, Dipstick?"

"First of all, I'm sorry about the fight… in my defense, you shot first. And don't worry, I am not looking for troubles, I mean, what I would do against you here; get into a thermos and release in The Ghost Zone?" Danny chuckled slightly, while Wulf smiled and Ember relaxed a little and grinned at her enemy. "I'm just looking for some information, and it's a good thing I found the both of you."

Danny started explaining the situation at Amity to both ghosts, while the rest of Team Phantom lowered the volume of their communicator so Danny couldn't hear them.

"Ember and Wulf?" Tucker got a surprised yet amused expression, "Talking about The Beauty and The Beast!"

"Yes… but I don't know who is who in this case." Sam gave her companions a sly smile, making them to chuckle.

"Okay, another name got erased from the list; let's see which ones are left." Jazz sighed, and checked down the names from the vehicle's computer screen, "Hmmm… you guys really think Spectra can get energy from kids' emotions as well as she does with teenagers?"


	3. Mass Abduction

**- Mass Abduction.**

"You're going to get in trouble, Freddy."

"Maybe, Billy, but then, maybe not," Freddy told his friend as approaching Jack and Maddie Fenton, who were looking around the school, right before the classes' start, for possible places to set and connect the alarm system, "I mean, we were told to not mess with their job, but nobody said we couldn't ask them about it."

"Whatever… just remember to be on time; the bell rings in less than ten minutes." Billy said while walking into the school. Freddy nodded to him, and then placed right behind the ghost hunters.

"Uh… Mister and Mrs. Fenton?"

"Yeah?" Jack turned and looked down at the kid, who couldn't help to feel slightly intimidated at the man's size, but resisted the urge to run away and cleared his throat to talk.

"Well… my name is Freddy Ortega, sir, and…" Freddy wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell the hunters about him being Phantom's fan, so decided to tell a half-truth, "I am interested in ghosts, so I wanted to ask you something, if you don't mind."

"Sure, sweetie!" Maddie entered the conversation, talking in her usual motherly tone, while Jack gave Freddy a contagious smile that made him to lose any fear left, "What would you like to know?"

"It's about Phantom, you know, the ghost boy," Freddy told them, "I mean, you two are trying to catch him, and I'm curious to know if you consider him a hero or a villain."

Before Jack could answer, he felt Maddie tapping his arm, and turned to see her with a curious expression he recognized as a signal; the couple had already discussed the fact that many youngsters and even a large number of adults considered the ghost boy a hero, and, even if Jack and Maddie wanted to catch him, they realized they just couldn't spread negative speaking among the kids to avoid hurting their feelings or getting themselves a bad image. Jack nodded to her, so the woman knew he would be careful with his words.

"Well, little buddy," Jack kneeled to look Freddy face to face, "we, as ghost hunters, have the obligation to catch any ghost and study it, and, even if Phantom might not be as dangerous as other ghosts, we need to treat him the same. Better safe than sorry and, besides, thinking about ways to capture him is just so exciting!"

Freddy got a puzzled look at the way Jack's expression brightened at the last part; it was like the one him and his classmates got on their birthdays and Christmas. Obviously, Mister Fenton loved his job a lot, and considered hunting down Phantom both a duty and a pleasure.

"And… the things you are going to set around the school might hurt the ghosts?"

"We would like to set an anti-ghost shield for a better protection, but these alarms will serve as well," Jack said proudly, "Once we get the final authorization to put them, they will make a lot of noise to alert you and your teachers so you can shelter whenever a ghost approaches the school, plus probably scaring it away… and it will alert me and my wife at home, so, if we are fast enough, maybe we'll be able to catch the specter."

"On the meantime, sweetie," Maddie kneeled as well to talk with the kid, "just be alert and obey your parents and teachers' rules, and stay away from both strangers and ghosts, even if they look friendly, okay?"

"Okay, Mrs. Fenton," Freddy smiled at the woman, and started walking away, "Thanks a lot for your time; I'll better go now, or my teacher will give me detention."

Jack and Maddie waved bye to the kid, and returned to their job, while Freddy gave them a last look at a distance.

"_They are nicer than I thought,"_ the boy thought, _"but I hope they realize Phantom isn't a bad ghost, and stop hunting him."_ Freddy then entered the school, him and nobody else noticing someone watching the kid at a distance, who smirked slightly and then walked away.

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"Okay, it's official." Danny told Sam and Tucker while taking a book out from his locker, "None of the known ghosts is behind the kidnappings, and, according to Frostbite, Vlad had been just too busy lately trying to fix his portal, so he's not responsible either."

"So we'll need to start checking those ghosts we don't know; how many are them, a million or two?" Tucker commented as Sam shook her head and Danny sighed tiredly. "Hey, relax, dude; at least it was funny when Spectra panicked after you threatened her with taking Jazz to her lair if she didn't cooperate; guess she still remembers about the time she peeled her with your dad's weapon."

"Using my big sister to scare mean girls… great, I'm eight again." Danny shook his head yet got a tiny smile.

"Maybe you should now focus on looking for clues at the missing kids' houses," Sam proposed, "I mean, you had limited to just flying all over the city and fight and interrogate any ghost you find instead of a deeper investigation."

"I know, but remember, there's the possibility of the kidnapper being a regular human, and, in that case, he or she might leave hair, clothing tissues or any other thing the police can use," Danny explained.

"And, if Danny isn't careful, he might destroy or mess with important evidence while searching." Tucker added.

"You two had been watching _N.Y.P.D. Blues_ again, right?" Sam said, her tone showing it was more a statement than a question, making her friends to get a sheepish look; the Goth sighed and rolled her eyes, "Well, at least it has sense in this case… unlike the time Tucker suggested us to watch a _Baywatch_ marathon to learn C.P.R."

"Hey, I was serious then!" Tucker defended, folding his arms, "The slow-motioned beauties in hot bathing suits were just an additional benefit."

"Anyway, maybe you're right, Sam, and I should start checking the kids' bedrooms, but staying intangible and invisible the whole time." Danny told his friend, "Talking about evidence, a sighting of Danny Phantom near the house of a possible ghostly abduction's victim would be a very negative one against me."

"Good point; and maybe you should do it during Valerie's shift at Nasty Burger to avoid another encounter." Sam added, and then wide opened her eyes at someone approaching them, "And talking about nasty encounters…"

"Fenturd!" Dash growled at Danny, slowly extending his arms to grab him, "You are in serious trouble, you dope!"

"Let me guess… failed Math again?" Tucker whispered to Sam while Danny backed away, getting ready to run.

"Come on, Dash, you can't just lock me every time you get a bad note."

"Oh, I'm not JUST locking you." Dash cracked his knuckles, smirking at the shorter boy, "I'll give you a beating, a wedgie, and then lock you!"

"Great; I'm getting the deluxe package." Danny ducked just in time to avoid Dash's attempt to grab him by the neck, and then sprinted down the corridor. Dash groaned in annoyance, and started chasing him.

Danny knew that, in human form, he didn't has the stamina or speed to avoid Dash in a long pursuit, so started looking for either a teacher to hide behind, or a place to miss the furious jock. His salvation came in the form of certain door that gave Danny a mischievous idea; Danny knew that the anti-ghost alarms were on the outside, so he didn't activate them when he was into the school as long as limiting himself to just minor stunts, so could use his powers to escape from Dash and giving him a lesson at the same time. Danny ran inside the room, with Dash just a few feet behind him; the jock was so furious and eager to catch his prey he didn't notice where he was entering.

"Dash, what you are doing here?!" Paulina yelled in anger and surprise, getting the attention of about every female around her, who immediately screamed and covered themselves. Dash gasped, realizing he was in the girls' dressing room!

"Uh… but… me… was chasing Fenton, and…" Dash, sweating cold, tried to explain everything, but, somehow, Fenton handled to get into the room and hide without the girls spotting him, so the jock had no way to excuse his action.

"You enter here, and want to blame Danny, you perverted wacko?" Valerie, already on her P.E. uniform, growled furiously and gave Dash a murderous glare. "Why, thank you, Dash… you just gave me two perfect excuses to do this!"

**WHAM! POW! OUCH! ARGH! UFF! ZOCK! KICK! PUNT! PUNCH! NOT THE FACE! YEOWCH! ZOWIE! CLUNK! TROZ! NARF! POINT! EEEK!**

Danny, who turned invisible the second he entered the room so no girl could see him (and the sudden opening and closing of the door only made Paulina to turn at it and see Dash before anyone else), phased out of the dressing room. Even if Valerie's anger and the screaming from the other girls prevented the huntress to hear her own ghostly alarm, Danny decided to keep it safe and turn visible outside, so it seemed he was among the many students who dashed around the room when hearing the girls screaming and Dash crying for mercy.

"**_Little Women!"_** Lancer's voice made all the students to move so the teacher could pass and knock the room's door, "What's going on in there?"

Lancer's question got answered a second later, when the teacher had to jump aside to avoid getting hit by Dash's body, literally kicked out of the room by Valerie and the other girls, who started attacking him after the Afro-American softened the guy a little… if damaged caused by a sharp bone breaking-like kick at the "family jewels" and some punches that would make Bruce Lee proud could be just called 'a little'. Dash landed face first, almost losing another tooth (he already had lost two); we was extremely bruised, his right eye was blackened, and his clothing was almost totally ripped, plus showing some large scratches at his left cheek, courtesy of Paulina's manicure.

"**_The Hunchback of Notre Dame!"_** Lancer exclaimed, looking at Dash and then turning to see Valerie and some other girls who were properly dressed to be at the corridor. "What happened here?"

The girls quickly explained Lancer what happened, and the teacher soon became pretty upset about Dash's behavior as well. Lancer asked Kwan, who was among the crowd, to get Dash to the infirmary, right after telling the blond jock that he would get detention for a whole month, football star or not.

"Oh, this is so priceless." Tucker, while he and his friends walked away from the dressing room, commented as checking a few pictures of Dash (and a couple from Valerie, Paulina, and the other girls who talked with Lancer) he could take with his PDA, "These are going right to the web… Dash's pictures, I mean; I don't want to anger Valerie."

"Yeah; one of us is enough." Danny chuckled while looking at one close-up of Dash's face, "She doesn't have a ninth degree black belt just to have a conversation's topic."

"You realize Dash isn't going to be exactly happy with you." Sam arched an eyebrow at Danny, even if she couldn't avoid getting an amused look after seeing Dash getting a well deserved beating.

"Yes… but I also realize he will not be at his top to chase or bully me for a while." Danny pointed at her.

"And you got to see Paulina and the other girls before exiting, right?" Tucker smiled slyly at Danny.

"Not really; I had to escape pretty fast so Valerie's alarm couldn't detect me," Danny admitted, "The most I got was a little view of a blonde, I guess she was Star, and a slight smell of Paulina's perfume."

"That's too much information, thank you." Sam got her emotionless gothic expression, "I mean, among all those girls, you still can recognize Paulina's scent?"

"It's not so hard; she practically baths on that thing." Danny shrugged, and then got silent; after a few moments, wide opened his eyes in realization, "I'm a fool!"

"Recognizing it is the first step." Sam smirked at her friend, who ignored the comment and slapped his forehead.

"No, I mean, about the lost kids," Danny whispered to his partners, "I had the solution yesterday right in front of me, and didn't notice!"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, and then at Danny, puzzled.

"Can you translate, please?" Tucker asked.

"I'm telling you at lunch… but I guess I'm going to use that little gift I got yesterday sooner than I thought." Danny said as the trio entered their classroom. The Goth and the geek nodded to him, knowing that he would explain his plan later, whatever it was; right now, they had to focus on the class, and, in Tucker's case, get a fast second look to the girls' pictures.

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Freddy had spent most of lunchtime talking to his friends about the little meeting with The Fentons. Some of them were pretty scared about the idea of a ghost coming after them, so any positive information was a great relief, especially for those who were getting more strict rules and a closer surveillance from their parents at home.

"I just hope they catch the ghost soon," Melissa, a red-haired girl, commented while rolling her eyes, "My parents said that I can't go out of the house without my big brother, even if I just want to buy a candy at next block's store."

"You think you have it bad?" Ernest, an Afro-American kid, sighed in frustration, "I can't even go to my own backyard without my parents looking at me."

"I have it the worst," Peter, the tallest kid of the group, groaned, "I have to sleep with my parents, right in the middle of the bed… and my dad snores."

"You win." Every kid around Peter chorused in a half-dull, half-shocked tone.

"Hey, come on, this isn't going to be forever," Freddy smiled at them, "I mean, if the ghost hunters don't catch the ghost…"

"Danny Phantom will do it." Everyone chorused, rolling their eyes.

"I'm that predictable?" Freddy rubbed the back of his head while giving a puzzled look to the other kids.

"Yes, you are." Billy commented, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, "But that's actually good because now we all know that anything Phantom-like will be a good birthday gift for you."

All the kids chuckled and returned to their regular chatting and eating. The cafeteria was a little crowded, so Freddy and his friends were eating at the schoolyard, as well as some other kids, with a few teachers watching them. They would feel a lot better once The Fentons could set the alarms; the school board approved the idea, and allowed them to start doing it the next day.

But it was one day late.

About a minute or so before the bell rang to announce the lunchtime's end, a couple of black spherical objects landed on the backyard, releasing a thick green smoke. The kids and the teachers started coughing, and soon felt extremely sleepy. Then, several hooded figures, all using dark masks and goggles that covered the face completely, popped from apparently everywhere, each one grabbing a kid. One of them, particularly large, ignored the children for a moment to recover the spheres, and then grabbed the closest kid, who resulted to be Freddy; the boy was pretty scared, but, just like his friends, vanished because of the fumes, so he didn't even struggle when the hooded figure carried him with one arm and used the other one to make a signal to its partners.

A few moments later, the smoke finally dissipated in the air… and the teachers that were inside the school dashed out to check out the unconscious children and colleagues.

It would take a few minutes to realize about the 8 missing students.


	4. Revealing The Truth

- **Revealing the Truth.**

Danny and company knew about the massive abduction after their last period, when Jack and Maddie contacted him and Jazz by cell phone; the hunters were called to help the police with the investigation, and, as usual, Jack couldn't help but tell his son and daughter about the circumstances of the attack, as well as complain and blaming himself for not thinking about setting the alarms after the first kidnappings.

"I'll better go to that school and see if I can find something." Danny told his friends and sister, but Jazz stopped him.

"Mom and Dad will be there, remember? Invisible or not, they might detect you, and, if you go as a human, even if trying to hide from them, you'll probably mess with the crime scene."

"Not to mention that, once Valerie knows about this, she'll be inspecting the zone as well." Tucker added, and then, in a perfect cue, the group heard the characteristic sound of the huntress' sled, flying over their heads and dashing away.

"If this was a TV show, that would be a great timing," Sam sighed, but then her expression brightened, "Danny, this is the best chance you'll have to use your plan! All the ghost hunters will be located at one spot, so you'll be able to avoid them easily."

"Cool idea, Sam!" Danny's face brightened as well, and then, once they were far away from the school (and Danny gave a fast look to the window of the detention room to see Dash's bandaged face) asked his companions to cover him to transform. A few seconds later, he was flying, invisible, on a direction contrary to Valerie's.

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Freddy moaned and grabbed his head when finally recovered conscience, feeling the worst dizziness ever. When his sight cleared, noticed he was naked except for his Danny Phantom trousers, and several kids were around him on similar conditions. They were in a large and cold room, with no light except for the one that passed down the door and a few tiny holes at the walls. About half of the kids were terribly dirty and smelly, and there were a couple of large buckets in one corner that smelled horrible; Freddy wasn't eager to know about what was on them.

"W… where am I?"

"Cool down, pal… I'll explain you everything." Freddy turned to see a brown-haired boy, apparently a couple of years older than him, sitting next to him.

"Who are you? And where are we?"

"My name is Nelson Smith, and don't know exactly where we are," the older boy explained, "but I was one of the first kids who got kidnapped, so I got to discover a lot of things."

"You mean… we are in a ghost's lair?" Freddy gulped.

"No; the kidnappers aren't ghosts, they just pretend to be," Nelson explained, and then pointed at a loose brick of the wall next to them. "Remove the brick and take a look… but be careful; they don't know we can hear and see them."

Freddy nodded and removed the brick carefully; it was one of the lower ones of the wall, so the kid had to get laid on his chest to take a look. At first he only saw a couple of booted legs, but then, when the legs moved a little, he could see a hooded man at a distance, a very large one holding a whip on his right hand and a hideous black mask on the left one. Nelson tapped Freddy's shoulder to get his attention, and motioned him to cover back the hole.

"They always use the masks when giving us food and water, and the guy with the whip is always menacing us with it to keep us quiet," Nelson told Freddy, "I've even heard them when preparing for a kidnapping; they use some weird lights and smoke bombs to simulate a ghostly appearance and stun or confuse the kid they are catching, and today they used the disguises in public so everyone think ghosts are guilty. They even have several escape routes to appear and disappear pretty fast, so they leave no traces."

"But why they attacked the school? I thought they only attacked at night and just a kid every time."

"Well, according to what I heard, these guys have a contact at school who gives them information about the kids to catch them easier; and yesterday he told them that the school was getting ghost alarms," Nelson sighed, "Then, this people thought our parents would start asking for alarms to protect our homes as well, and that would blow the cover because, if the alarm doesn't sound when catching a kid, it would confirm the attacker wasn't a ghost, so they decided to catch as many children they could today and leave Amity tonight while the cops still think the kidnappers aren't humans."

"Leave?" Freddy gasped in fear, "Where are they taking us?"

"They are selling us." Nelson looked down, fighting back fear-induced tears, "they want to sell the youngest of us to work on something called _horn_, or _porn_, or something like that… and the oldest ones, like I… they just say our kidneys and livers will make them rich."

Freddy paled, looking how Nelson couldn't resist any more and started crying. Freddy was just as scared; he wanted to go home, back with his parents, and not with a bunch of strangers who might hurt him. Worst of all, if they left Amity, even Freddy had to admit Phantom wouldn't be able to locate them since the ghostly hero, as much as he knew, usually didn't leave the city.

"_Come on, Freddy, think… what would Phantom do?" _Freddy thought, making a mental list of all the things Phantom would do to escape; unfortunately, all of them involved phasing, flying, blasting, or some other supernatural power the kid obviously lacked. After a few minutes, Freddy took a deep breath, and thought again, "_Okay… what would Phantom do WITHOUT his powers?"_ and, after a minute or so, his expression brightened.

"Nelson, I have an idea!" Freddy said to the other kid, who gave him a puzzled look, "I think I know a way to escape, so at least one of us can get help."

"It will be useless," Nelson sobbed, "They are a lot, and bigger and stronger than us. We can't do a thing."

"Phantom wouldn't give up, and I'm not doing it!" Freddy insisted, "If he can face ghost hunters and evil spirits every day, and still be a hero, then we can handle a bunch of adults playing with Halloween disguises. I know we can, but I need your help."

Nelson got surprised at the little kid's outburst, and, deciding he would try anything to conserve his internal organs… well, internal, nodded and heard what Freddy had thought.

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Danny entered the house of Anna Walters, the last girl who got kidnapped previous to the massive abduction, keeping himself invisible and intangible the whole time. The room was particularly clean, since obviously this girl wasn't as messy as Danny, so he had to be pretty careful to not ruin the evidence for the cops.

After giving the room a fast look, Danny entered the girl's closet, finding what he was searching; her dirty laundry's basket. Danny grabbed a little red shirt, and then left the place after giving a fast look to the girl's parents, who were sobbing at the living room, with some family members and two police officers around them. Danny felt extremely bad when looking at the couple, and frowned; ghosts or humans, the kidnappers would pay for this.

Once Danny was at a certain distance, became tangible and visible again, and took out his cell phone to call Jazz.

"Jazz, I have the girl's clothing… and don't worry, nobody saw me. I'm just calling to know if the coast is clear."

"Don't worry, bro," Jazz, who was at the Elementary School, behind the police line, to keep an eye on her parents, replied to him, "I hadn't seen Valerie, but I am almost sure she is around here somewhere… and about Mom and Dad, well, they are currently distracted chasing the least likely suspect."

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"Come back here, you ectoplasmic fiend!" Jack, holding the Jack-O-Nine-Tails on his right hand and a blaster on the left one, chased the ghost just a few yards behind Jazz, with Maddie running next to him, aiming at the specter with a blaster on each hand.

"You can't catch the master of all things cubic and square; BEWA... AAURGH!" The Box Ghost yelled in pain when receiving two blasts at his rear, courtesy of Mrs. Fenton.

"Unless all those kids were playing inside a huge cardboard box, this ghost's only crime was trying to steal the children's lunch boxes." Jazz rolled her eyes, and, after wishing good luck to her brother, hung off the phone.

Danny flew over the buildings, gaining as much height as possible while looking around, just to be sure Valerie wasn't at the same neighborhood ; luckily, as Sam said, it seemed she still was searching around the school, and it was a little far away from Anna's house, so the risk was minimal. Once Danny decided it was safe enough, took a little bright object out from his outfit's pocket; it was a bright tube that glowed slightly with silver and blue tones. Danny placed it on his lips, and blew as hard as possible; it seemed to do nothing but making the glowing more intense.

Danny remained on his place, hovering without moving, and then, after a minute or so, a slashing sound was heard behind him, and Danny turned to see a large bright hole on midair.

"This thing really works!" Danny said while looking at the tube, getting a slight smile.

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"Help, please!" Nelson hit the door as hard as he could to get the kidnappers' attention.

"Shut up, kid!" The menacing voice of the whip-using man silenced the boy, "Or do you want to face the whip?"

"N… no, sir, but one of the kids you just brought isn't breathing or moving." Nelson said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"Rats! Maybe the kid was too sensitive for the gas we used, boss." Another man said, making the first one to groan.

"We need to keep the merchandise alive! Open up the door."

The door opened, and the large man and two other ones, all of them using their masks, entered the room. Nelson motioned them to a kid who was on a fetal position the other side of the room, totally immobile; the criminals leaned to check him, and started shaking the kid.

"Oooh… my head," the boy, who was none other than Billy, complained after a few seconds.

"He was only stunned, boss, and…" The criminal stopped and his eyes, behind the goggles, wide opened in surprise, "Hey that kid is escaping!"

Freddy, who was hiding next to the door when it opened, dashed outside when noticing the kidnappers were totally distracted, and got spotted when he was already at the corridor, getting a good distance from the room.

The kid turned right in another corridor, trying to find a way out. He then noticed a stairway, and, not knowing exactly at what floor he was, decided to run down… however, the yelling from the criminals behind him alerted the rest of the gang, who were at the floor behind the kids' prison, and Freddy heard them running upstairs, so the boy had no more option than running upstairs as well.

Freddy reached the rooftop, and ran to the building's edge. Apparently, it was a condemned building, pretty old and damaged, with nobody around who might hear or spot whatever happening there. Freddy gulped when noticing it was also a pretty high building, about 15 stories or so, and there was no other building next so he could jump to its rooftop, so the kid was now trapped in there.

"Get the brat!"

Freddy turned at the rooftop's door, looking at the large criminal sending three of his accomplices against him. The kid found himself cornered by the adults, who got ready to jump over him, and one of them did exactly that, making Freddy to jump in an attempt to avoid the kidnapper… but slipping, right at the building's edge.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"You morons!" The criminal boss snapped at the other three men, "Your stupidity just cost us a little fortune! Now, go down and get the body; we'll need to hide it!"

"**You are the one who should hide."**


	5. Rescue Angel

**-Rescue Angel.**

All the criminals turned, and gasped in shock. Rising in front of them, the kid who they thought was dead by now was currently carried by Amity Park's most famous resident, who was giving the criminals a murderous glare.

"Phantom…" Freddy wide opened his eyes, not believing what just happened; his hero had just saved his life!

**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**

**PTANG! PTANG! PTANG! PTANG!**

One criminal reacted and took out a gun to shoot at Danny and Freddy, but the bullets got deflected by the hero's ecto-shield, and the criminals were the ones who almost got hit by the bouncing projectiles.

"Too bad you guys aren't friendly, because one pal of mine is eager to meet you!" Danny smirked at the villains, and, a moment later, a huge shadow covered the three kidnappers who were in front of Danny.

"BAD. MEN."

The criminal boss got a scared expression under his mask at the view of the huge ghostly werewolf diving against his accomplices, and ran downstairs. Freddy, on the meantime, got an awed look when the criminals started shooting at Wulf, who received the bullets without feeling them; if hurting a werewolf without silver weaponry is hard, hurting a ghostly one is nearly impossible. The powerful lycanthrope extended his claws, and sliced the pistols' barrels in a single move; then, he grabbed two of the criminals by their collars, throwing them like rag dolls at the center of the rooftop, hurting badly and almost knocking them out.

The other criminal, scared, decided that jumping down the building was a safer option than facing the beast, and did it, but got caught by his ankle. He looked up to see Danny's scowling face, holding him with his right hand and Freddy with his left one, and then the halfa hovered to the center of the rooftop, dropping him there with his partners, with Wulf keeping an eye on them. Of course, by this moment, both Danny and Wulf knew they were just regular men on disguise, thanks to the halfa's ghost sense and the smelling one of his companion.

"Are you okay, friend?" Danny asked Freddy after landing on the rooftop, a few feet away from the criminal trio, in a calming tone. Freddy was pretty stunned; his hero not just had saved him, but was calling him _friend_.

"Y… yes, yes, I am, Mister Phantom." Freddy finally got his voice back and suddenly remembered about the other kids and the rest of the criminals, "Mister Phantom, there are a lot of bad guys down there, and they want to do horrible things to all the kids they caught!"

On the meantime, the criminals were met by their boss at the corridor a few floors down, and got surprised when looking at him panting and removing his mask.

"What's going on, boss?" A random criminal asked.

"We're leaving now! Hurry up!"

"Why? The Police found us?"

"You might be able to escape the cops," an eerie voice was heard at the corridor, making the criminals to look around and sweat cold, "but there's no place on Earth you can escape from me."

Danny, with a furious expression, became visible at the end of the corridor, carrying Freddy on his back, the little kid's arms around the ghost boy's neck; the halfa decided that, with all those criminals around, the safest place for the kid was with him, and of course Freddy wasn't complaining, especially after feeling the experience of becoming invisible and intangible.

All the criminals but their boss took out their guns and started shooting at Danny, who simply made Freddy and himself intangible again so the bullets passed through them, an experience that was both exciting and frightening to the little kid. The boss, who already suspected that wouldn't work, dashed downstairs while his gang kept shooting.

The moment the criminals stopped shooting, shocked at what they just saw, Danny pointed at them with both index fingers, in a pistol-like fashion, and started shooting short and fast blasts at the men's weapons with such aim and speed all of them dropped their guns in the next 5 seconds.

"You guys really need to cool down." Danny smirked and then touched the floor with both hands, sending a freezing wave through the corridor; a moment later, all the criminals had their legs totally covered on ice, stuck and unable to escape.

"Wow!" Freddy exclaimed, "You're so cool!"

"Thanks," Danny replied with a smile, enjoying the kid's enthusiasm, "Now, it's time for what we heroes call The Final Showdown."

The boss reached the floor where the kids were, and had an idea. He obviously couldn't defeat Phantom, but if he could get a kid to use as a hostage, maybe the ghost would let him go. With that idea, he ran to the children's room, his whip ready on his right hand, and opened the door.

"You know, your plan is a little familiar," the criminal shocked when finding Danny behind the door, hovering at his eyes' level, "What you did before turning criminal; writing scripts for _Scooby Doo_?"

**WHACK!**

The kidnapper was sent back several feet by the boy's punch, while Danny hovered out of the room, with Freddy and the other kids behind the halfa, looking at the hero and the criminal, who, by mere instinct, handled to stay on his feet, and threw his whip against Danny, who caught it effortlessly with his right hand, and turned slightly to look at the kids without totally sight of the villain.

"You guys want to see a little trick I normally don't use?" Danny asked the children, who immediately nodded and smiled at him; Danny then glared at the kidnapper, who gulped when Danny's hand and eyes got a bright green glowing.

"Ghost Stinger!"

A current of green energy ran through the whip, and reached the kidnapper in a split second.

"**YYYYEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUCCCHHH!"**

Danny dropped the whip, and walked next to the now nearly unconscious criminal, grabbing him by the collar, the halfa's eyes still glowing.

"W…what are you going to do?" The man said in fear.

"Well, if I use my whole strength, I might crack your skull in a split second, but relax; I'm not going to do that… YOU will hit yourself." Danny replied, and, a second later, overshadowed the man. The kids gasped at the scene of Phantom practically diving inside the kidnapper's body that stood straight and got a goofy expression, raising his fists in front of his face.

"Don't punch yourself!" Danny, manipulating the man's body, made him to punch his own face. "Ouch! Why are you punching yourself? Ugh!" Danny repeated the operation several times, hurting both the face and the belly; even if he could feel the hits, Danny's ghostly stamina allowed him to stand them with relative easiness, and the kids' laughter encouraged him to continue. He even made the kidnapper to walk in a clownish way right before dashing against the closest wall; a split second before impacting, Danny left the villain's body that, obviously, kept running.

**CRACK!**

The kidnapper fell to the floor, holding his bleeding nose, and feeling as if a gorilla had just danced over him. The man felt his jaw and teeth in acute pain, and his belly was killing him, not to mention he could barely see with his right eye; plus, besides the kids laughing at him and cheering at Phantom, he could hear a loud buzzing that was giving him a major headache. When the buzz started to disappear, he heard the ghost's voice again, as he grabbed him by the collar.

"I never use my full power against humans… but, if I ever know you hurt or kidnapped children again, no matter if it's in Amity or any other city, I'll do an exception and turn you into a REAL ghost; and remember I'm a phantom, so you'll never know when I'll be watching." Danny growled at the man, who paled and vanished a moment later.

"I told you!" Freddy turned to see the other kids, excited, "I told you he would save us!" The children surrounded Danny when he moved apart from the unconscious foe, cheering his name excitedly. Danny blushed, not used to get all that positive attention at once.

"I can't get the full credit," Danny admitted, "A friend of mine helped me… by the way, which one of you is Anna Walters?"

"I am, Mister Phantom." The little girl, covering her naked chest, smiled shyly at Danny, who grabbed his thermos and opened it to take out the girl's red shirt.

"I guess this is yours; it's a little dirty, but it's better than nothing." Danny handled the shirt to the girl, who immediately brightened and put it on. Since the clothing was covered with her natural scent, Wulf could use it to track down Anna.

Danny sent a message to his sister, and, anonymously, Jazz told the cops about the kids' location. Danny stayed with the children near the building's exit while Wulf kept an eye on the kidnappers. About ten minutes later, Danny and Wulf heard the patrols' sirens.

"I guess my friend and I should leave now," Danny told the kids, and then grabbed a half-broken brick; Danny focused a little of his ectoplasmic energy on his right index, and used it to write his autograph on it.

"_For Freddy, my greatest fan. Danny Phantom." _Freddy read the script when Danny handled him the brick, getting an even more excited expression, and then gave Danny a tight hug; the halfa smiled at the kid, and turned to leave, chuckling when noticing some of the other kids were hugging Wulf, who was more than glad to be liked by someone besides Ember and Danny even in his animal form; once Danny told the children he was the friend who helped him, they lost all fear for the huge werewolf, especially when he started talking a little Esperanto, making them to laugh at the weird language.

Danny and Wulf turned intangible and flew up to the rooftop when the cops spotted the kids. The boy and the lycanthrope stayed there looking at all the kids, the officers, and, a few minutes later, the parents, who were notified about them being safe the moment the cops saw them and the captured criminals.

"Please, thank Ember for me, and tell her that she did a great job with this whistle." Danny told Wulf while looking at the bright metallic tube which could produce a sound the werewolf was able to hear even if being in another dimension, either the human world or The Ghost Zone, "I suppose it is logical coming from a ghost whose powers are sound-based."

"Me. Telling. I. Know. She. Glad. For. Helping. Ember. Very. Warm. Tender. I. Like. Making. Her. Happy."

"Uh… leave the details for yourself, please; there are certain mental images I want to avoid." Danny commented, making the werewolf to chuckle and get a slight blush on his canine-like face.

"I. Leaving. Now." Wulf told Danny, and then shook paws/hands. Wulf moved aside and extended his claws, making a slashing-like move, producing his own portal to The Ghost Zone. After Danny thanked him again, the werewolf jumped at the portal, disappearing immediately from sight. Before the portal vanished, Danny could hear Ember's song to turn Wulf into human, and his friend saying something he couldn't understand, since it was Esperanto, but chuckled slightly and shook his head at the obviously caring tone the werewolf was using.

"If those two ever marry, I hope they invite me." Danny thought out loud, getting a happy expression. He certainly was glad for losing an enemy and gaining an ally, especially since it was the result of said former enemy finding love with one of his friends, and hoped nothing but the best for the couple.

Danny turned to see the kids one last time before leaving, but a characteristic sound froze him on the spot. Valerie, slowly descending on her sled, directed to Danny; he noticed she wasn't on her usual battle stance, but on a more relaxed posture, so Danny, even if still ready to escape or fight, relaxed a little as well.

"What's your deal, ghost?"

"Uh… I phase through walls, fly, turn invisible…"

"I mean, about the kidnapping thing!" Valerie groaned at his attempt to light the mood, "My battle suit can get the police frequency, and I heard that you and that animal saved the kids… by the way, how many dogs you do have?"

"First, his name is Wulf, a friend of mine, totally harmless unless you mess with him, and is not 100 percent animal, but a werewolf," Danny explained while making a mental note about the police frequency's thing (obviously, Valerie used that to know about Danny's sightings), "Second, I have no dogs; as I already told you like, one million times, I was just trying to keep that dog away from the labs… I did a lousy job, I admit, but wasn't responsible of his actions. And last, as I also had told you, not all ghosts are evil. I really wanted to help the children, and the whole idea of someone hurting them just for money makes me sick."

"As much as I hate to admit it… almost as much as the mental image of you puking I just got… guess this time I was wrong." Valerie grumbled, disliking the idea of apologizing at her enemy; however, as stubborn as she could be, Val knew this time he actually helped many people, and couldn't find anything wrong about the ghost's behavior.

"Thanks." Danny replied, partially stunned at the huntress' words, "I mean, I know it must be hard for you to say that…"

"You have no idea."

"So… this means we are in peace now?" Danny asked, hopeful.

"No, it just means THIS time I can't blame you, and I'm letting you go without a fight." Valerie cleared, "After all, maybe you attacked the kidnappers just so I stop blaming you for their crimes… but, whatever your reasons are, I'm giving you, for once, the benefit of the doubt, since it seems all the children are fine."

"Well, anyway, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, so thanks. I guess I'll see you later, Val… erie." Danny quickly corrected himself, and hovered a few feet over the rooftop, ready to leave.

"Yes, you will, gh… Phantom," Valerie decided to call him by his name this time, considering that, for once at least, he deserved that. Danny gave her a friendly smile, and Valerie, against all her instincts, replied with a slight one of her own.

On the meantime, Freddy's parents had already arrived, and ran to embrace their son. Freddy was just too happy to see them, and couldn't wait to talk about Phantom saving him and the other kids.

"Hey, look! It's Phantom!" One cop yelled, making everyone to look up in the sky. Danny was flying away from the scene, waving bye to the kids, who cheered his name and waved as well in reply.

"You saw him, Mom?" Freddy told his mother without losing sight of Danny, "I told you; he is the angel that protects Amity."

And this time, his mother was more than happy to agree with him.

**THE END.**

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(Nice job, dude… but, next time, can I get more lines, and maybe a girl or a dozen?) We'll see, Tuck, we'll see.

Anyway, as a second disclaimer, as everyone noticed, I used some lyrics from "Son of Man", part of the soundtrack of Disney's _Tarzan. _(And, of course, Ramiro doesn't own anything here; neither Disney, nor the Tarzan's character, nor the song, nor Cameron Diaz' phone…) Tucker, what are you talking about? (Wait, are you telling me you have that phone number?). Of course not, Tuck! (Rats!)

I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story. As you saw, the rating came mostly because of the mention of a very delicate topic; kidnapping and child abuse. (Yes; sadly, this is a major problem in some countries.) Tell me about it; I hate to recognize this, but here in Mexico there are whole families involved in the "business" of dealing with human lives as if they were simple merchandise.

(Again, thanks for reading, and please leave a review before leaving). Thanks a bunch, Tucker; so long everyone, and keep the good writing. (I'm sure there's a mistake with your signature phrase.) Cool down, Captain Grammar.


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